Cloth-cutter.



No.737,76s. Y PATENTED sBPT.1,19oa.

J. T. PRBsToN.

CLOTH CUTTER.

PPLmATloN FILED nov. a, 1902.

no MODEL.

ivo. 737,768.

UNTTED STATES atented September 1, 1903;

JAMES T. PRESTON, on EILLEY, Missount.

CLOTH-CUTTER'.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N 0. 737,768, datedSeptember 1,- 1903.

Application filed November 3, 1902iI Serial Noi129|933. (No model.)

To all whom t may concern,.-

Beit known that I, JAMES T. PRESTON, a citizen ofthe United States,residing at Filley, in the county of Cedar and State of Missouri, haveinvented a new and useful Cloth-Cutter,

-of which the following is a specification.

. damaged or broken in use, and in which the cutting portion thereof mayreadily be sharpened when dull and replaced at a small cost when wornont.

A further object is to present a device for the uses stated which shallin addition to serving as a cutting implement constitute also a penciland eraser holder, by which arrangement When a clerk has finished usingthe implement as a cutter he has in his hand his pencil for making outthe sales-slip and also a rubber for correcting any error that might bemade in his calculations.

With these and other objects in view, as will appear as the nature ofthe invention is better understood, the same consists in the novelconstruction and combination of parts of a cutting implement combiningthe adj unctive devices above named, as will be hereinafter fullydescribed and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings, forming a part of the specication, and inwhich like numerals of reference indicate corresponding parts, there isillustrated one form of embodiment of the invention capable of carryingthe same into effect, it being understood that the elements hereinexhibited may be varied or changed as to shape, proportion, and exactmanner of assemblage Without departing from the scope of the invention.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a view in side elevation, exhibiting theimplement provided at one end with a pencil and at the other end with arubber eraser. Fig. 2 is a view in side elevation, partly in section,showing more particularly the manner in which the knife' is heldassembled with the knife-carrier. Fig. 3 is a view in transverse sectiontaken on the line 3 3, Fig. 1, and looking in the direction of the arrowthereon. Fig. 4 is a perspective detached detail view of the head orbody of the cutter. Fig. 5 is a similar View of the sheath, Fig. 6 is asimilar view of the knife. Fig. 7 is a detached detail View in plan ofthe head portion of the device viewed from the upper side thereof.

The device is herein shown in a reversed position to that occupied inuse for clearness of. illustration.

Referring to the drawings, 1 designates generally the head or body ofthe implement, the same comprising a tubular shank 2, constituting apencil-holder, and a knife-carrier 3. The pencil-holder constitutes byprefer; ence an integral part of the head, although it may be a separateelement associated therewith and may be split, as at 4, for a portion ofits length to present spring-clamping arms or may be a plain tube. Theknife-carrier 3 is constructed with a flat upper face 5, which extendssome distance back of a pivot-opening 6, and thence inclines downward orout- 'ward and forms two shoulders 7, separated by the knife 8, theshoulders constituting the front Walls of the two passage-ways 9,hereinafter designated cloth-passages, through which the edges of thesevered fabric pass, the rear wall of the passage-ways being formed byshoulders 10, carried by the sheath and pitched approximately at thesame angle as the shoulders 7. The knife-carrier is provided with alongitudinally-disposed slot 11, which extends rearward from its outerend and terminates in one member 12 of a hingejoint, the other member ofwhich is formed by the shoulders 10 of the sheath, a screw or pin 13,passed through openings 14 in the said shoulders and through an opening15 in the joint 12, serving to hold the parts assembled and to permitthe sheath to have a rocking movement with relation to theknifefcarrier. The rear end of the knife is provided with a shoulder 16,which projects into the portion of the slot 11 within the joint 12, asshown in Fig. 2, and thereby holds the blade against vertical or lateraldisplacement, a screw or pin 17, passed transversely through the opening6 in the knife-carrier and engaging a recess 18 in the back ofthe knife,serving to hold the same against endwise displacement or removal.

It is essential to the proper operation of the device that the opposedfaces of the sheath and of the knife-carrier shall in use always remainin parallelism in order that the fabric being severed will be preventedfrom wrinklin g or gathering between the said faces,which wouldinevitably result if the space between these parts when separated by theincluded fabric were wedge-shaped. tial that the parts automaticallyassume parallelism in operation, thus to adjust themselves to a fabricor cloth of any' thickness without any manipulation of parts by theoperator. To effect this, the opening 15 in the joint 12 is oblong andis disposed atan angle to the transverse diameter of the head andpitched toward the front end of the device, as clearly shown in Figs. 2and 4. VVheu the sheath is rocked on its pivot to open Vit to permitinsertion of the material to be eut, the pivot 13 is in engagement withthe lower wall of the opening 15, being normally held in this positionby a spring 19, and when lthe sheath is released the spring 19 instantlyy closes it up against the knife, and as the face of the sheath contactswith the material the latter operates as a fulcrum to force the rear endof the sheath upward, projecting the pivot 13 toward or against the topof the opening 15, and thus bringing the opposed faces of theknife-carrier and the sheath into parallelism. Should the spring 19 failto effectV the exact adjustment of the parts as soon as end thrust isapplied to the device to sever the fabric, this will bring about theproper disposition of the part/s. The spring 19, which is an ordinaryleaf-spring, is secured at one end by a screw 20 to the rear portion ofthe upper Vside of the head adjacent to the shank 2, the

free end of the spring being passed through a slot 21, formed in theupper side of the sheath, and presses againstthe upper side thereof at apoint approximately midway of its length, as shown in Fig. 2, so that,in effeet, the bearing end of the spring constitutes a fulcrum uponwhich the sheath may have a limited rocking movement. AThe rear portionof the sheath is provided with a thumbpiece 22, by which it may berocked on its pivot, the thumb-piece in this instance having an opening23, disposed in line with the It is also essen- 25, (clearly shown inFig. 3,) also extending through the said end back to the shoulders, theupper surface of the slotted portion of the sheath being provided oneach side of the slot with a recess or depression 26, which mergeonacurve at each end into the slot 24. These recesses form twolongitudinal ribs 27, disposed along the sides of the slot 24, andconstitute cloth-stretchers which operate in an effective manner toprevent any wrinkling of the cloth adjacent to the knife 8, the cuttingedge of which, as shown in Figs. 2 and 4, is disposed at an angle to theface of the knifecarrier, thereby presenting an angularly-disposedcutting edge which will operate to pinch the fabric or cloth up againstthe stretchers 27, and thereby eect easy severing or cutting thereof.The rear portion of the knife adjacent to its tang or heel is providedwith a semicircular recess 28, in which rests the crotch of the goodsbeing severed, whence it passes out through the cloth-passages 9, thisportion of the blade being always housed within the channel 25 ot' thesheath, as clearly shown in Fig. 2. sage of the fabric from the recess28 to the blade outward through the passages 9, these passages adjacentto the recess 28 are rounded at 29, as shown in Fig. 4, the roundedportions gradually merging into the straight portion of the joint 12, asalso shown in the said figure.

In order to adapt the sheath for carrying a rubber eraser 30,1he outerend of the channel 25 is enlarged, as shown at 3l in Fig. 2, and in thisenlarged portion the eraser is inserted and is held by frictionalcontact with the walls thereof. The shank 2 is engaged by the pencil 32in the manner usual to ordinary pencil-holders. It is to be understoodthat while the device is constructed to have associated therewith, as amatter of-convenience, a pencil and a rubber eraser the invention is notto be limited to this combination, as either or both of the elements maybe omitted without departing from the scope of the invention.

To operate the device, the piece of fabric to be cut is grasped betweenthe thumb and the index-finger and the third and little iinger of theleft hand and is held taut. The thumb-piece 22 is then borne upon torock the sheath on its pivot, and the fabric is then inserted betweenthe opposed faces of the knifecarrier and the sheath, the knife restingon the bottom of the goods, after which the thumb piece is released,whereupon the spring 19 will instantly close the sheath and press thestretchers 27 against the cloth, thereby holding the same under tensionand at the same time bringing the opposed faces of the knife-carrier andthe sheath into parallelism in the manner described. To effect cutting,the operator simply pushes the cutter across the fabric, and in doingthis the fabric is brought into forceful Contact with the `edge of theknife and is thereby severed.

To facilitate the easy pas-` IOO IIO

zov

The utility of the pencil and rubber eraser will now be apparent.Ordinarily the clerk after having cut the goods will return the scissorsused for the purpose to his pocket, and when the account-slip is to bemade out he then has to search for his pencil,.which is often misplacedand frequently lost, thereby causing a loss of time, and as the majorityof pencils are not provided with a rubber eraser should a mistake bemade in making up the sales-slip and the clerk is not provided with arubber eraser the entry has to be cauceled and made over again. Withthis device the user has combined in simple and compact form all theappliances required for use, and as it is of small size and simpleconstruction it may be readily carried by a male clerk in hisvest-pocket or by a female clerk in her belt or in her hair.

In constructing the device it may be cast or be made of stamped metaland may be suitably ornamented to present a neat and highly desirablearticle of manufacture.

Having thus f nlly described the invention, what I claim as new, anddesire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

l. A device of the class described, comprising a fixed knife, and amovable sheath coacting therewith and provided with terminal shoulders.

2. A device of the class described, comprising a knife, and a sheathadapted for rocking movement to permit insertion of the fabric and forlateral movement to keep the opposed faces of the parts in parallelism.

A device of the class described, comprising a knife, and a sheathadapted for rocking'movement to permit insertion of the fabric and forautomatic lateral movement to keep the opposed faces of the parts inparallelism.

4. A device of the class described, comprising a knife, and a sheathcoacting therewith and having a combined rocking and lateral movementwith relation thereto.

5. A device of the class described, comprising a knife, and a movablesheath coacting therewith, the cutting edge of the knife being normallyhoused within the sheath and disposed at an angle to the operative facethereof.

6. A device of the class described, comprising a knife, a movable sheathcoacting therewith and normally housing the knife and means operatingautomatically to cause contact between the opposed faces of theknife-carrying means and the sheath.

7. A device of the class described comprising pivotally-connectedmembers having opposed parallel faces, one of which is provided withbeveled fabric-stretching ribs and an intermediate slot, and a knifecarried by the other member for operation in said slot.

8.` A device of the class described, comprising a knife, a movablesheath coacting therewith, and cloth-passages arranged at the rear ofthe knife.

9. A device of the class described, comprising a knife, a movable sheathcoacting therewith, said knife being provided near its tang with arecess, and cloth-passages formed by parts of the knife-carrying meansand the sheath and coacting with the said recess to spread the severededges of the fabric Vbeing operated on. y

lO. A device of the class described, comprising a knife, a sheathcoacting therewith and having a combined rocking and lateral movementwith relation thereto, and a spring secured to the knife-carryingportion of the device and bearing against the sheath and constituting afulcrum.

1l. A device of the class described, cornprising a knife-carrier and asheath pivotally' associated therewith, the knife being disposed at anangle to the operative face of the sheath, and the opposed faces of thesheath and the carrier being arranged in parallelism in operation.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own I have hereto affixedmy signature in the presence of two witnesses.

JAMES T. PRESTON.

Witnesses:

JOHN H. YOUNG, JAMES GRovEs.

